The present invention relates to an apparatus for securely positioning a mass of hardenable plastic compound in a compression molding machine having upper and lower mold halves, the mold halves being driven so as to be movable relative to one another in order to form the mass into a compression molded component.
To produce a compression molded object from a hardenable plastic compound, particularly a SMC (sheet molding compound) resin mat, the mass of starting material to be processed is typically provided in the form of a layer or in the form of a press packet which includes a plurality of superposed layers. The layer or press packet is placed onto the lower mold half (referred to as the male mold) of an open press and, in order to secure its position, the layer or press packet may be pressed on or deformed by hand.
This type of positioning lengthens the period of dwell of the starting material in the press to an undesirable extent, and moreover the starting material is often displaced or slides off anyway. The most substantial automatization of the pressing process desired for economic reasons excludes the above-mentioned type of position securing.